7 Things I Wish Every City Would Do to Make Urban Living Even Greener

Though it sometimes might not seem so, living in cities is a pretty green thing to do. Two prime reasons being that average home sizes are smaller and transportation distances are generally shorter, both leading to lower levels of resource consumption and energy usage. But that doesn't mean that every city is a green oasis. Lots could use some sprucing up, even if all the basic amenities are taken care of. Here are some of the top programs I wish every city would do to make urban living even greener:

1. Make More Pedestrian-Friendly Areas

times square pedestrianization photophoto: Matthew McDermott

If there's a person in the world that doesn't like good pedestrian infrastructure, nice outdoor plazas, and a pleasant walking environment, I haven't met them. I'm pretty sure that person doesn't exist. But just because your city was built post-automobile addiction pushed pedestrians to the fringes, doesn't mean your city is out of luck.

I was convinced of this over the past weekend when I saw the effect in Times Square of blocking off traffic from whole blocks: Congestion on the sidewalks was eased, people ambled about in an area previously crushed by congestion. Farther down Broadway in Herald Square, blocks were closed off around an existing park which, though it's a bit rough still, made the entire area decidedly more calm and peaceful.

Now, there are plenty of places in the United States which have pedestrianized areas. But what we need are more of them. And not just in areas that are surrounded by shopping—the idea isn't to just create outdoor shopping malls—but to fill more residential and mixed use areas with pedestrian zones as well.

2. Make Entire Zones Car-Free

Places that take the pedestrian concept even further are also needed. TreeHugger has waxed on about Vauban and its car-free development model on a number of occasions. All this really is an extension of the pedestrian zone, and could be implemented as such.

If the idea of completely relegating parking and car traffic to the outside of an area is too daunting, restricting traffic in certain zones to residents and emergency traffic could work well too.

When I was in Copenhagen a few months ago what really struck me, besides the obviously exceptional bike infrastructure, was the fact that entire networks of streets had been pedestrianized creating de facto car free zones. There might be one lane of traffic in some places, but because of the narrow width of the street it might as well be entirely pedestrian.

Again, just because we've built streets with cars placed front and center isn't any reason they have to stay that way.

3. More Light Rail & Trolleys, Plus More Varied Transport Options

san diego trolley photophoto: Josh Truelson via flickr

This is just another extension of encouraging car-free urban living... We're always on about good public transportation systems and one of my favorite forms of urban mass transit is trolley and light rail. I love me a good subway system, but if I had my druthers I'd spend my time above ground rather than tunneling beneath it.

These can be used to connect urban areas as well—like we used to have in the US, a fact that plenty of authors will remind you of. But the missing link in that is having more varied transport options once you get off the rails. If we expect people to live car-free most of the time then we need more varied transport options.

While the auto-rickshaw isn't exactly a pollution-free vehicle, there's no reason green ones can't be made, or perhaps better still a safer, smaller form of short-distance taxi, more sealed to the elements for colder climates, to fill a public transportation void.

Bicycles and bicycle share programs could do some of this, as well as car share programs, but it seems there's another vehicle class that we're overlooking.

4. Community Solar Power

There are plenty of ways to get green power into your home, but one way which I wish would be expanded actually comes not from civic leaders but from community organization. It's the One Block of the Grid model, and for homeowners looking to purchase their own solar panels it can lower the costs of ownership significantly.

This obviously won't work in areas built up with taller apartment buildings: The roof space of the building I live for example is far from sufficient to supply all 12 floors of apartments with enough power from the sun. But in places where rooftop solar power is appropriate—whether for homes or businesses the 1BOG is certainly worth expanding.

A number of US cities already are in on the act, with more expected soon; here's thephoto: Ladywood Road Allotment via flickr

If you've got a backyard, even a small one then building your own compost bin is a perfectly feasible and very much green thing to do. But many urban dwellers simply have no space to do so, or despite their green intentions don't want to deal with composting themselves. Which is why I wish curbside or building-based composting programs were more prevalent.

In my building for example you already are bringing down all your recyclables to be brought out and dealt with by the building management, so why not just add compost waste to that as well? To be fair, a program such is this is starting in my building but this is the exception rather than the norm. It needs to be pushed and expanded to become as ordinary as separating recyclables from trash.

6. Good Covered Farmers Markets

spitalfields market photophoto: Wikipedia

The virtues of good farmers markets are well established, and in those areas which already have a good local food network, what I'd like to see expanded is better infrastructure for farmers markets—spaces dedicated to this, at least to make them more established than just a collection of trucks with tarps and tents.

Not that I particularly mind buying my produce in this manner, and there are certainly virtues to this approach, but when I think of some of the wonderful indoor markets in London, or half a world away, some of the beautiful food centers in Singapore, which are roofs over collections of small-scale market stalls, these have an air of permanence that even something like the Union Square farmers market in New York just doesn't have.

7. Great Community Gardens & Green Spaces

While great large public green spaces within a city are wonderful, in dense areas that don't already have these spaces laid out small and frequent community gardens can really do wonders. All it takes is a vacant lot, some community organization, plus some action and encouragement on the part of the city...Sometimes just in the form of getting out of the way.

To use an example close to my home, the East Village and Lower East Side in New York have a growing number of great, small (sometimes even just twenty feet wide)community gardens and parks. Some streets have one on every block. They are all in vary states of upkeep, styling, and growth but that's the joy in them. Even the most basic of them (and some truly are pretty basic) offers a break from the ordinary street and chance to reconnect with soil and greenery.

The city doesn't even have to get involved except at the most simple level: Providing a framework for them to protect them from being usurped by developers. Everything else can and should be a natural outgrowth of the micro-locality surrounding the park or garden.

From http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/06/7-things-i-wish-every-city-would...